FLIP THE BIRD

Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey Trade Odd Barbs Over Twitter Feature

The pair butted heads over the rebranding of the platform’s ‘Birdwatch’ feature.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and new CEO Elon Musk had an eyebrow-raising back-and-forth Sunday night as the pair disagreed about the social media platform’s purpose and branding. The fracas began with Musk, who bought Twitter last month for $44 billion, saying Twitter’s “mission” is to be “the most accurate source of information about the world.” “Accurate to who?” Dorsey replied. “As judged by the people of Twitter via Community Notes (formerly Birdwatch),” Musk answered, referring to the platform’s feature allowing users to add contextual notes to tweets deemed misleading. “I still think…Birdwatch is a far better name,” Dorsey replied, “And ‘more informative’ a far better goal.” Musk said that the name Birdwatch “gives me the creeps,” while Dorsey dismissed Community Notes as “the most boring Facebook name ever.” “Not everything needs to have ‘bird’ in the name!” Musk retaliated. “Too many bird groups fighting each internally other at Twitter. Angry Birds.” “Agree,” Dorsey replied, “But that wasn’t reason for the name. Descriptive is always better, but don’t think ‘community’ or ‘notes’ is the right descriptor.”

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Dan Ladden-HallBreaking News Editor

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